Soft top roof assemblies are generally known and used for a variety of vehicles to allow an operator to selectively retract or remove all or a portion of the vehicle's roof exposing the interior passenger and/or storage spaces. Typical soft top roofs have a cover formed of one or more pieces of fabric, vinyl or other cloth type of foldable material supported by a frame.
The frame is releasably connected using semi-rigid attachment fixtures, e.g., rail retainers, plastic channels, etc, to a fixed vehicle support frame or structure formed of numerous rigid and/or semi-rigid support rails, support member(s), sport/roll bar(s), etc to form a removable or retractable vehicle roof. Additionally panels, e.g., comprising clear plastic forming windows and/or vinyl, fabric or other cloth type of foldable material, are generally releasably attached to the cover, e.g., using zippers, velcro, and/or snaps, etc.
Known frames also have pivotable members that permit the frame and the foldable material supported by the frame to be moved between a retracted and a deployed position, e.g., retracted to expose the vehicle interior, and a deployed position in which the cover prevents the interior of the vehicle from being exposed to environment. A header is attached to the cover and a pivotable linkage and is releaseably attached to the windshield frame. Generally, when header latches under the vehicle visor are released from the windshield frame by the operator, the operator can fold the header and the cover back and hold them in place with Velcro® straps. When desirable to have a partially removed roof during transit, the cover is secured in place using Velcro straps wrapped around the linkage and side bows of the vehicle along the roofline. When desirable to have a fully retracted roof, foldable frame members, including the header and linkage, are further retracted to a lowered position located rearward of passenger seating.
Generally, when the cover is in the fully retracted position and the operator desires to deploy or close the cover, the operator grasps the linkage adjacent the header on one side of the vehicle and raises a pivot point of the linkage to a location on top of the vehicle frame, usually in a location above a front quarter window frame, and snaps the linkage into a fixed locking mechanism. This locks the linkage in place relative to the front quarter window frame while allowing the linkage half having the header to be rotated by the operator to pivot the header toward the windshield frame. The header latches are engaged by the operator thereby securing the header to the windshield frame. The fully extended or deployed soft top roof assembly thereby seals off the driver/passenger/storage compartment from the environment.
While various soft top assemblies have been developed, they are difficult to operate. Soft top assemblies are particularly difficult to cycle, e.g., between a retracted and deployed position and vice versa, especially by one operator. Typically, the top frame assembly allows too much free play. The top frame and cover of the assembly also binds up on at least the vehicle side sport/roll bars making the soft top assemblies difficult to operate and control. This can also cause damage to the soft top assemblies from an operator trying to force operation of the soft top assembly.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a sliding/folding soft top assembly configured to improve ease of use and effectiveness.